If I Die Young
by l'il pirate
Summary: : Wistful one shot about Jack and Angelica. Talking about if they died right then, although being so young, would they die happy and content with the life they lived. Inspired by a great sad song :


: Wistful one shot about Jack and Angelica. Talking about if they died right then, although being so young, would they die happy and content with the life they lived. Inspired by a great sad song :

* * *

**: If I Die Young :**

One beautifully cloudless June morning, on a narrow dusty street of one of Port Au Prince's lower neighborhoods, walked a handsome stubble faced young man and small dark beauty. Both were dressed rather simply but something in their faces made them different. It was a worldly look about them that made them more interesting than other youths of three and twenty, and knowing this themselves, they gave littler attention to the others strolling the streets in search of sunshine and company then they themselves received.

The young woman, one Angelica Teach by name, walked silently next to her companion as she cast glances to and fro about the street, giving attention to anything that interested her, though little did in a place so quiet as this. The other, was more much more at home on this quiet street, he swaggered comfortably next to the dark beauty whistling low to himself some witty little tune he had picked up the night prior in a local tavern. They were here only on a short stop over but he made a mental note to return when he had more time, they had splendid entertainment.

Walking on leisurely they came upon a darling town square with quaint stone houses built in a circle around an old chipped monument. Jack, fully ready to pass by the cold statute made a move around the drab monument and continued on his way uneffeted, but paused a few steps away as Angelica stopped before it and gazed up at the worn old thing. Jack approached her and gazed up at it, attempting to mirror her interest but not nearly understanding why she was so interested in such worthless things.

"This tar strikes an uncanny resemblance to old Taylor." Jack mused, a lopsided grin creeping it's way onto his face as he looked at it. "He was this crusty old geezer who fought in the war when I was..."

Turning and finding Angelica's lips forming a tight line across her gentle face, his smirk slid slowly from his face. Slowly he turned back to the statute and thrust his hands in his pockets as he rocked back onto his heels. Angelica stood silently a moment longer before she let out a small sigh and shifted from her determined position before the monument.

"It's a shame." She remarked, turning away.

"What is that luv?" Jack inquired, quick at her heels, sincerely glad to be on their way again but always interested in anything interesting.

"These." She replied tossing one last glance at the monument. "Always left to be chipped away by the wind and rain."

Jack glanced at the monument and frowned. "It's a rock."

"It once had meaning."

"A rock." He dead panned.

"Fine, yes, it was." She consented. "But it's hypocritical, the way so much time and money goes into something like that just to be ignored."

"People don't care-"

"No they don't." She interjected firmly.

"Ney, not for rocks luv." Jack replied with a grin.

Angelica tossed him a tight smirk which ignited his eyes into a brilliant sheen of gold, he always liked attention but that which came from beautiful women was always held in higher regard. Cheeky bugger. Angelica tossed her raven hair in the wind and ignored that charming smirk on his lips. They walked on a few more minutes, half heartedly remarking on whatever took their fancy but mostly continued on in silence, comfortable with it.

They weren't sure where they were heading, just wasting some time before heading back to the ship and away from this gentle place, but they soon fell upon a sad sight on one of the small side streets. Jack spotted it first and stoped dead in his tracks, staring off to his left. Pausing Angelica followed his gaze and sighed. In a beautifully serene little graveyard under the canopy of several oak trees there stood a collection of people dressed in muted greys and black. Watching sadly, Angelica's eyes followed Jack as he approached the twisted iron fence and slowly removed his hat. Feeling uncomfortable with his uncharacteristic silence she met him at the fence and draped her hand over it.

Jack stared at the family standing around the open grave, not moving an inch as Angelica came alongside him, he could pick the family easily from the crowd. The tall, stone faced father holding a small child in one arm and his wife in the other. Another child, a young boy, stood next to his mother silently, staring at the hole in the ground. The others standing around them were silent as the priest read from his little black bible, words that he could not hear but it didn't matter, they were always the same. Then, as the priest spoke, two men stepped forward and picked up the crisp wooden coffin and lowered it into the hole in a way that fully exposed it's size. Jack took a sudden quick breath as he saw it was hardly half his height. A child was in that coffin.

Angelica felt Jack's muscles contract as the men lowered the coffin into the grave and although she didn't see the reason why he should, they both had seen much death in their lives, she felt sympathy rise within her heart. She didn't venture a word, fearing of causing some unspoken pain, but she, against her better judgement, slipped her hand through his arm and rested it upon his strong forearm. He didn't make a single move as she did this but kept his eyes fixed upon the funeral coming to a sad and quiet end. They watched silently as the men filled the grave with shovel after shovel full of tender soil, then when the attenders gave their last sympathetic looks, handshakes or embraces to the family they began to pick their way through the old gravestones, Jack lowered his face and returned his hat to his head. Taking this as a cue for their departure, Angelica removed her hand from his arm and stepped away from the fence.

Jack gave one last look over the little graveyard, but was swift in holding his place at Angelica's side as she made her way down the street now towards the docks. Angelica cast several short glances Jack's way as they walked but his stone face left her feeling concerned and self-conscience. Something had happened at that graveyard she did not know about and his silence strongly enforced that. It wasn't until the bustling docks and gleaming sea could be seen that Angelica finally felt a little relief from her discomfort, soon they would be far from this place.

"You ever wonder what necessitates a satisfying life?"

Angelica turned to Jack, surprised with such a question. She watched him as he continued on, clearly not overly distracted by such a quarry, but refused to reply. She wasn't sure if he was in fact asking, if he was she doubted he would be satisfied with the answer she would give, which more often than not, would irritate his humor.

Not fazed by her silence in the least, Jack returned his hands to his pockets and refrained the question simply as if she had not understood.

"I'm not saying this is remotely possible, but if it were, and you were to die tomorrow, let's say, would you be satisfied with your life? Would you have the confidence to say it was full or should you be dissatisfied with the thought?"

Angelica turned back to the approaching harbor and pulled a strand of hair caught against her lips. "I have no regrets, besides it wouldn't matter to me, I'm dead."

Jack frowned with dull disappointment. "It would matter to those left behind."

Angelica looked up at him fleetingly but when he met her eyes with his own she could not simply turn away. And within that moment, Jack allowed her to see his warmth for life return in a single flash of his deep brown eyes. She knew that within seconds the moment would be gone so she held the look until Jack gave a smirk for her alone and glanced away. Not many were confident enough to hold a stare unless in love, Angelica could hold a stare in any emotion, hatred, sadness, excitement- she had a talent for endless confidence. Jack knew it. He too had confidence but his was clouded with passion and rum, it was an entirely different thing.

"After death you always receives more attention, words of kindness and respect than you ever had before, even if the respect you deserve isn't actually deserved. Words that, when alive, should have been said." Jack frowned dismally.

Angelica watched him a moment then looked over the tall ships now beginning to tower over them. "Do you feel you've lived a full life?"

Jack smirked, tossing her only a piece of it as he glanced at a handsome new ship floating pleasantly alongside them. "There's always somewhere else to go, something else to see or someone else to meet. I always want more, telling myself satisfaction will come when it does, it never does."

Angelica nodded in scent and walked on silently a few moments before letting out a small sigh as she looked at their ship at the end of the peir. "I am confident... if my life ended unexpectedly, I will be content with my life."

Jack turned to question her but the moment slid away like sand in one's open fingers as he found himself watching her instead, the wind blowing her hair and her dark eyes fixed on the ship ahead. It was then, that silent look on her face not even focused on him, that made him come once more to the firm decision then that dying young should not be an option, not for anyone. Life was just too full of possibilities.


End file.
